Must see: 19 year old Iowan with two moms testifies about marriage

Yes, we lost in the Iowa House today. But, the battle is far from over.

Watch this video of 19-year old Zach Wahls testifying last night.

Just wow.

Hat tip, Michael Bedwell. Read the rest of this post...

LGBT protest Thursday morning at 'The Family's' National Prayer Breakfast

On Thursday, much of official Washington, from the President to Supreme Court Justices to Members of Congress to Cabinet Officials to Ambassadors will flock to the Washington Hilton to attend the National Prayer Breakfast. Sounds relatively innocuous, but it isn't. The event is sponsored by “The Family":

This fringe group uses the visibility and support from the National Prayer Breakfast (attended by many politicians and business leaders) and other events to further its world-wide campaign against LGBT individuals. Associates of “The Family” continue to promote a proposed law in Uganda that would imprison for life and murder LGBT people — just for being who they are — while also criminalizing knowing an LGBT person without reporting them.

“The Family” has invested much in mentoring current and future world leaders, including David Bahati, a Ugandan legislator and author of the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill (a.k.a. the Ugandan “Kill the Gays” bill).

On Thursday morning, GetEQUAL is holding a protest outside of the Hilton: "Breakfast without Bigotry."

Elected officials need to explain why they're attending an event sponsored by "The Family." We've reached a point where enough people know this event is hosted by haters. Attendees must be aware of the role played by "The Family" in Uganda.

The President shouldn't be there. Nor, should any member of Congress or the Judiciary. But, instead of letting people know this breakfast is hosted by haters, too many of our elected officials scurry to this creepy event to curry favor with the right-wing religious types. It's sickening. By legitimizing "The Family" and its hate agenda, everyone who attends has blood on their hands.

Here's some background via Press Release from GetEQUAL:

On Thursday, February 3, GetEQUAL -- a national direct action lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization -- in partnership with multiple LGBT and human rights organizations will host a “Breakfast Without Bigotry” protest outside of the National Prayer Breakfast. The National Prayer Breakfast is an annual event, keynoted by the President and attended by many politicians and business leaders, that is organized by a secretive religious group called "The Family" and is tied to the Ugandan lawmaker who authored the “Kill the Gays” bill in the Ugandan legislature.

In front of the Washington Hilton Hotel (1919 Connecticut Avenue, NW) from 6:00am – 8:00am (ET), civil rights activists, faith leaders, human rights organizers, and LGBT advocates will gather during the National Prayer Breakfast to ask that both Democratic and Republican Members of Congress and our President stand against the hatred and bigotry that the National Prayer Breakfast organizers have promoted worldwide. Groups joining GetEQUAL in this event include the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Unitarian Universalist Association, Soulforce, and others. (An updated list will be available at www.getequal.org on the day of the event.)

In the wake of the murder of Ugandan gay activist, David Kato, and the pending deportation of Brenda Namigadde from the UK back to Uganda, organizations across the country are uniting to make sure that “The Family” is exposed for their influence on world affairs, including the annihilation of LGBT people worldwide. "History has proven time and again that the kind of hatred, bigotry, and prejudice promoted by 'The Family' cannot be allowed to go unchallenged. 'The Family' already has blood on its hands, and must be stopped before it can kill again in even greater numbers. Uganda today serves as a lethal preview of what 'The Family' hopes to accomplish worldwide," said Michael Dixon, a lead organizer for GetEQUAL DC.

Details are here. I'll be there. Read the rest of this post...

GLSEN appears to win $250k grant to help make 10,000 high schools safer

This is the grant we asked you to weigh in on the other day, and vote for it. It appears they won. Read the rest of this post...

Evan Wolfson: Time for Government to Show All Families Deserve Protection

Freedom To Marry's Evan Wolfson has a powerful post up at Huffington Post on the importance of marriage to families, all families. I was going to post an excerpt, but Evan weaved such a compelling story that I asked Freedom to Marry if we could put up the entire post -- and they agreed:

If it’s Sunday in Jacksonville, Fla., it isn’t hard to find Darlene Maffett, her partner, and their two children — just head over to St. Luke’s Community Church. As the first gay-friendly African-American church in a city where 32 percent of all gay couples are raising children, the Maffetts call St. Luke’s a second home. It’s a liberating place, one where they can worship with families like themselves, instilling the Golden Rule lessons of respect, integrity, and commitment in their children.

Darlene and her partner long to demonstrate the depth of their love for each other in the most powerful way they know how — by making a public commitment to care for and protect their family through marriage. But because government discrimination bars gay couples from legally marrying, it’s hard for parents like Darlene to explain to their children why their family is not treated the same as others.

The Maffetts aren’t alone. According to a recent New York Times front-page analysis of census data, the South is home to more gay parents than any other region in the nation. The study shows that the gay community is no cookie-cutter group, despite the best efforts of anti-gay opponents to paint it as such. The community is diverse economically, racially, and geographically. African Americans and Latinos, who are often rendered invisible in a national discourse that slights or ignores intersecting identities, were twice as likely as white same-sex couples to raise children. The study by The Williams Institute at UCLA also found that one in three lesbians are parents, while one in every five gay men are.

There is no question that gay families exist in every county, every state, every region in the United States. The big question now is whether we will end the ongoing state-sponsored discrimination against caring, committed couples like the Maffetts. Without marriage in Florida, one of a dozen states in the South with a discriminatory constitutional amendment on the books, these families are denied the basic tools and support they need most and are forced to live on a tenuous patchwork of protections — or, more often, none at all.

These families are not only discriminated against by their home states, which exclude them from marriage and bar even lesser protections such as civil union and domestic partnership. They are also targeted for an additional layer of discrimination from the federal government: the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” or “DOMA.”

“‘DOMA” harms married same-sex couples by withholding from them the more than one thousand federal responsibilities and protections of marriage accorded all other married couples — including Social Security survivor benefits, tax fairness, access to health coverage, and recognition of family ties for immigration purposes. Equally destructive, DOMA divides married Americans into two classes, those with marriages the federal government likes, and those who are married to someone of whom the federal government disapproves. And DOMA discriminates against states, telling them that even if they end marriage discrimination, the couples they legally married will be carved into two groups.

When DOMA was stampeded into law back in 1996, no gay couples were married anywhere in the world; Congress was voting on a hypothetical. But today tens of thousands of real-life married couples are affected by DOMA’s double-standard. Increasingly, Americans understand the unfairness of not only denying these couples the opportunity to make a public commitment to one another, but also depriving these families of a myriad of federal protections. DOMA serves no legitimate end: marriage is not “defined” or “defended” by who is denied it. Even former Republican Congressman Bob Barr, DOMA’s original sponsor, and President Bill Clinton, who signed it into law, have acknowledged DOMA to be abusive and have each called for its repeal. Unfortunately, the Department of Justice continues to defend this law that President Obama has repeatedly said is discriminatory.

It’s unfortunate because families from Massachusetts to Florida know first-hand that this type of government-sanctioned exclusion says that in the eyes of the law, gay relationships, parents and families are less worthy and deserve fewer protections and less respect. In short, it undermines the very values Darlene Maffett works tirelessly to instill in her children every day. Gay couples, like all human beings, love and want to declare love, want inclusion in the community, and the equal choices and possibilities that the government bestows on all other married couples and families. Valerie Williams, the Maffetts’ pastor at St. Luke’s, echoed this sentiment when describing her commitment to her partner Cindy:

We work hard to care for our friends and neighbors and we’re diligent about paying our taxes. And despite our commitment to love each other ‘til death does us part, our government excludes us from the protections and obligations that only marriage can provide.

The freedom to marry is important in building strong families and strong communities. Every day, the Williams’ and Maffetts keep doing the hard work of marriage. Through day-to-day interactions and personal conversations with their friends, families and neighbors, they demonstrate their desire to protect their loved ones and the tangible harms inflicted by exclusion from marriage, helping others along their journey toward fairness. After meeting loving and devoted couples like Cindy and Valerie and Darlene and her partner and seeing their commitment to family, Americans can’t help but ask, what business do federal, state and local governments have in putting obstacles in these family’s paths as they seek to care for each other? It is time for states like Florida (and all the others that deny civil marriage to committed couples) and the federal government to end state-sponsored discrimination in marriage. In the United States, we don’t have second-class citizens, and we shouldn’t have second-class marriages.

Read the rest of this post...

Iowa House passes measure to strip rights from citizens of the state

Today, the Iowa House of Representatives took a major step forward in its quest to strip away rights from its citizens. The House just passed, by a vote of 62 - 37, House Joint Resolution 6, which would place a ban on same-sex marriage on the ballot. The introduction to House Joint Resolution 6 explains its purpose:

A Joint Resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Iowa specifying marriage between one man and one woman as the only legal union that is valid or recognized in the state.

One Iowa livetweeted the debate -- and it sounded pretty intense. Jason Clayworth from The Des Moines reported that two GOP sponsors of the anti-gay resolution "refused to answer questions today on the House floor," which was considered "rare." Guess some of them can't even defend their hate. The Senate would still have to pass this measure, which it hopefully won't. And, the same resolution has to pass in another session of the Iowa Legislature before it can be on the ballot. But, the haters, led by House Republicans, are determined.

Yes, the House GOPers are so determined to engage in legislative gay-bashing that they've ignored their promised focus on the economy. From the Des Moines Register on January 10, 2011:

Leaders of both parties will struggle to keep lawmakers' attention on helping unemployed Iowans.

"We told the people of Iowa that we were going to focus on jobs and the economy. We're going to do that," said House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer, R-Garner.

Didn't take long to prove that Linda Upmeyer is a liar. Instead of focusing on jobs and the economy, Upmeyer's GOP caucus is focusing on hatred and bigotry. Not quite the same thing.

So, the haters had a win today in the Iowa House. Hope they're happy. Read the rest of this post...

Another DADT horror story - the financial witch hunts continue

This is getting ridiculous. The Obama administration needs to put a stop to this now. Via TowleRoad we learn about former Petty Officer 2nd Class and Hebrew linguist Jason Knight:

The military has a long tradition of recouping money from service members who are discharged under the law known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell. If discharging GI Jane or Joe because they happen to be different, [then] telling them they need to repay the government because they are different is insult to injury, as well as reinforcing negative stereotypes. From tuition of ROTC students, military sign-on bonuses to unfulfilled contracts, the military is getting their money's worth for employing lesbian, gay and bisexual service members.

In 2005 I was discharged from the military for the first time because I annulled my marriage after discovering my sexual orientation. Regardless of misplacing the DADT discharge paperwork, recalling me back to service and serving a year in Kuwait and continues communications with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service to rectify the situation, I am still forced to repay my $13,000 sign-on bonus I received in 2001. After zeroing my account when I was discharged in 2005, I refused to pay this grievous loop-hole the government circumvents to continue to persecute LGBT veterans. So for the last six years, all of my tax returns have gone toward repay this "debt" including my 2010 tax return of $1959 that included a $1000 tax credit for being a full-time student.

So Dan Choi, be prepared to receive a letter in the mail that your tax return has been recouped to pay the debt the government has so willingly given you for being a gay man.

They're garnishing his tax refunds.

We are two years into the Obama administration. Why won't they fix this? It's not required by law, it's not required under DADT. This is a choice. And for some reason the White House refuses to tell DOD to stop harassing gay service members.

These are the kind of things that should have been fixed on day one of the new administration. These are the kinds of things that the White House can fix administratively. They don't need congress. So fix it.

If you haven't already, please sign our letter to Defense Secretary Gates, demanding he stop the financial witch hunts against gay service members. Read the rest of this post...

TAKE ACTION: More cases of gay vets forced to repay tens of thousands to DOD

We told you last week how the military was trying to bilk Lt. Dan Choi for thousands of dollars by blaming him for his own "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" discharge. Dan, sadly, isn't alone.

Thanks to Servicemembers United, we just found out about three more cases in which the Pentagon is forcing DADT victims to pay back tens of thousands of dollars in education and training they received in the services. Why? Because the Pentagon says those gay or lesbian troops (all of whom were discharged under DADT) broke their promise to serve their country.

Can you believe the nerve?

The only way we can stop this -- and we can stop this -- is by shaming the Defense Department and the White House into ceasing this reprehensible practice.

Join nearly 4,000 people who have signed our public letter telling Defense Secretary Gates to stop sending bill collectors after Dan, or any other veteran discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

And it's not just Dan. Check out what the Pentagon is doing to these brave gay and lesbian vets:

Dan's fellow West Point graduate, Anthony Woods, was kicked out under DADT and then sent a bill for $33,000 to pay back his military education and training. The Army even refused to pay Anthony his leave accrued while serving in Iraq.

Mara Boyd was kicked out of ROTC at the University of Colorado four years ago for being a lesbian. To this day, the Pentagon still hounds her to pay back $33,000 in education and training.

And Sarah Isaacson's story is even worse. She was kicked out of ROTC at the University of North Carolina, and the Pentagon is now demanding the college student repay $78,000.

While it's true that Dan, Anthony, Mara and Sarah all left the military early, it's hardly their fault. Each and every one of them wanted to continue serving their country, but the Pentagon said "no" simply because they're gay or lesbian.

We keep hearing about how DADT was repealed, so why is Barack Obama's Pentagon continuing a financial witch hunt against gay and lesbians victims of this discriminatory policy?

We'll report updates on the blog and continue to brief reporters on our progress. Help us reach 5,000 signers and keep the pressure on the Defense Department and the White House.

Click here to tell Defense Secretary Gates to stop sending bill collectors after veterans discharged under DADT.

Make no mistake, the Defense Department is not "required" to levy these fines against gay and lesbian service members. The law doesn't require it, nor do DOD regulations. It's a choice. And it's the wrong choice.

Thanks for helping us stop this injustice. Read the rest of this post...

Another Bush family member for marriage equality

Further proof that support for marriage equality is really just a generational issue. In just one generation of Bushes, marriage goes from being a divisive political tool to a non-issue (not counting Laura Bush's support post-White House years).

Read the rest of this post...

Gov. Quinn: 'we came together here in Illinois, the Land of Lincoln, and made history'

Yesterday was a good day for equality in Illinois -- and the Governor set the tone. Via Rex Wockner:

Gov. Pat Quinn signed Illinois' comprehensive civil-union bill into law Jan. 31. It will take effect June 1.

"This is the moment that I think long after we're gone, people will remember us, on the 31st of January in the year 2011 that we came together here in Illinois, the Land of Lincoln, and made history," Quinn said.

The governor used 97 different pens to sign the bill, so that many of the people who worked on it could have a souvenir. It took him 7 minutes and 25 seconds to affix his signature to the document.

When he finished, he stood, thrust the signed bill in the air, and looked extremely satisfied but also humble. Video:

Read the rest of this post...